Revenge 247
Elon. “Can I see you tomorrow?” Elon asked. “I have to
meet at Cape Canaveral tomorrow with Obama at noon
and we’re doing a presentation. The airport is going to
be closed until five. I could get to you for six o’clock
tomorrow.” Blankenship replied that he could. When they
met, Elon persuaded Blankenship to meet some people and
test drive the car. After 60 seconds behind the wheel, he
knew he had to join Tesla. In 2010, Tesla hired Blankenship
as a manager of the new Tesla Stores.^238
People are still uncertain about what an electric car is,
so the goal of these stores is to change people’s perception.
If someone sees an electric car, they should see a car – not a
strange result of a science experiment. When gasoline cars
were new, they were considered toys for rich people. The
famous banker JP Morgan refused to invest in Ford because
he thought exactly that. “When I joined Apple there was
one thing that most people knew about Apple: They didn’t
want one,” Blankenship said. “It was for a few crazy people
and some creative people.”^238
A computer store couldn’t explain Apple’s products.
Apple didn’t want their products to sit on a shelf between
a Dell and a Compaq while a salesperson, who didn’t have
the knowledge to explain why Apple’s products were dif-
ferent, just wanted to sell any computer. “All the salesman
cared about was a $50 spiff,” Steve Jobs said. “Unless we
could find ways to get our message to customers at the
store, we were screwed.”^3
In a similar way as Apple, Tesla didn’t want a Model
S to sit between a General Motors and a Ford. “Existing